Post by KG on Jun 5, 2019 0:45:18 GMT
Local seafarers together with many seamen from other parts that sailed from Barry and other Welsh ports played their part in the allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France. 75 years ago.
It is also important to recognise, respect and remember over 50,000 Merchant Navy Seafarers involved in COMNO (Combined Operations Merchant Navy Operations) with 837 merchant ships plus 43 taken up from trade and others under Naval Command such as converted Ferries. These are figures mentioned in a speech given by Winston Churchill at the time.
Records later indicated that 1,260 merchant ships were involved supporting: The 129,710 soldiers landed, 12,500 vehicles and 1,550 tanks plus stores and supplies. It would simply have been impossible without them.
Early 1944 there was intense activity locally in preparation for the Normandy landings. Barry docks were an embarkation point for troops in the second and later waves of this invasion. Porthkerry Park was used as a vehicle park and ordnance store. 15,000 long tons (15,000 t) of equipment, including 1,269 vehicles, and 4,000 troops were carried from the Docks to Normandy. After the invasion, coal was carried from Barry to liberated ports in France.
In the run up to the 75th Commemoration of the DDay Landings in Normandy, we pay tribute to the role of the Merchant Navy. Operation Neptune (codename for the DDay Landings), under the command of the British Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, transported men, supplies and vehicles. The Allied Armada crossed the Channel in the night of June 5th-6th, and comprised 4,300 ships and 2600 barges, made up mostly of British, American, Free French, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Danish & Greek vessels. These transport ships were accompanied by a naval bombardment squadron of between 15-20 warships that opened fire on the German defences 45 mins before H-Hour, taking over from aerial bombardments. The troop ships carried 130,000 men and more than 20,000 vehicles, tanks, lorries, supplies on the 6th June alone. In all, some 150,000 Seamen belonging to the War Fleets & Merchant Navy took part in the Landing Operation. A force equal to the number of troops sent into battle on land on 6th June 1944. By the end of the Battle of Normandy in August 1944, over 2 million men, 400,000 vehicles & 3 million tons of stores and supplies were delivered. About 127 vessels were damaged or lost through enemy action, with the loss of life of many brave Sailors whose graves remain forgotten beneath the waves.
It is also important to recognise, respect and remember over 50,000 Merchant Navy Seafarers involved in COMNO (Combined Operations Merchant Navy Operations) with 837 merchant ships plus 43 taken up from trade and others under Naval Command such as converted Ferries. These are figures mentioned in a speech given by Winston Churchill at the time.
Records later indicated that 1,260 merchant ships were involved supporting: The 129,710 soldiers landed, 12,500 vehicles and 1,550 tanks plus stores and supplies. It would simply have been impossible without them.
Early 1944 there was intense activity locally in preparation for the Normandy landings. Barry docks were an embarkation point for troops in the second and later waves of this invasion. Porthkerry Park was used as a vehicle park and ordnance store. 15,000 long tons (15,000 t) of equipment, including 1,269 vehicles, and 4,000 troops were carried from the Docks to Normandy. After the invasion, coal was carried from Barry to liberated ports in France.
In the run up to the 75th Commemoration of the DDay Landings in Normandy, we pay tribute to the role of the Merchant Navy. Operation Neptune (codename for the DDay Landings), under the command of the British Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay, transported men, supplies and vehicles. The Allied Armada crossed the Channel in the night of June 5th-6th, and comprised 4,300 ships and 2600 barges, made up mostly of British, American, Free French, Norwegian, Dutch, Polish, Danish & Greek vessels. These transport ships were accompanied by a naval bombardment squadron of between 15-20 warships that opened fire on the German defences 45 mins before H-Hour, taking over from aerial bombardments. The troop ships carried 130,000 men and more than 20,000 vehicles, tanks, lorries, supplies on the 6th June alone. In all, some 150,000 Seamen belonging to the War Fleets & Merchant Navy took part in the Landing Operation. A force equal to the number of troops sent into battle on land on 6th June 1944. By the end of the Battle of Normandy in August 1944, over 2 million men, 400,000 vehicles & 3 million tons of stores and supplies were delivered. About 127 vessels were damaged or lost through enemy action, with the loss of life of many brave Sailors whose graves remain forgotten beneath the waves.